


Hanayome Kazu-kun

by nns_kanoe



Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-02
Updated: 2014-10-02
Packaged: 2018-02-19 14:58:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2392517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nns_kanoe/pseuds/nns_kanoe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Based on the premise of Lily Hoshino’s Hanayome-kun. Midorima Shintarou hails from an ancient and thriving medical lineage, with a bizarre tradition widely credited for their success. He didn’t quite care for it much in the past; not until it was his turn.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hanayome Kazu-kun

Upon hearing the last bell for the day, Midorima Shintarou let out a little sigh of relief, and started packing his books with meticulous finesse. Once the last of his belongings had been slotted into his bag, a shorter boy with the demeanor and eagerness of a puppy bounded up to his table.

“Should I go get the cart?” Takao grinned, balancing on the balls of his heels as Midorima stood to leave the classroom. Halfway down the hall, he removed his cellphone from his bag and switched it on, controlling his nerves while he waited for the signal to connect. Takao strolled by his side, the straps of his bag slung around his arms like a backpack instead of on one shoulder.

“I'm guessing your cousin’s wife is going for her next checkup soon isn’t she?” The raven-haired boy mewled teasingly, knowing all too well the cause of his partner's anxiety. Midorima gave half a grunt in response, unwilling to show any signs that Takao had struck the nail on the head.

“She will be having a girl, so I’m safe. The stars have decreed it such.”

“Heeeeh. It amazes me that instead of a whole family of doctors, you still choose to believe in your radio shows." Ignoring the response, Midorima lifted his phone higher to combat bad reception as they entered the shoe locker area. He had mentioned that bizarre family tradition of his to Takao once or again, not thinking it much of a big deal. The point guard, however, had seemed unexpectedly interested. Midorima, as always, suspected the curiosity to be merely out of mirth, not too dissimilar to people’s pseudo-interest in his horoscope obsession.

“Anyways. That means you won’t need to get married to a guy then.” Takao chuckled, knowing all too well why Midorima was being anxious about the gender of his cousin’s child. As much as he tried to hide it, his partner hadn’t been at all subtle about the sudden fascination with his cellphone, starting a week or two ago.

Turning back towards the side of the school building, where they usually parked the cart, Takao recalled the story behind Midorima’s distress. The ancient tradition had been seen as the cornerstone of success for the Midorima family lineage, an almost sure-fire method for rooting up dispute before it could sprout. Simply, if the main family’s eldest son, Midorima’s cousin, had a son of his own, the next in line of inheritance would have to wed a male.

Midorima had said nothing when Takao jabbed him in the ribs, asking if he’d begged with his aunt and uncle to have another son after his cousin.

Midorima turned to observe Takao silently, even as the shorter boy lost at janken, once again, and mounted the bicycle. His phone remained silent as they pedaled out of the school gates, precipitating a sort of jumpscare that Midorima knew was to come. He couldn’t help wondering, what it, just what if, the child indeed turned out to be a boy. Oha-Asa that morning had reassured him things would go alright in the long run, and that alone would normally have been all the guarantee Midorima needed. However, he couldn’t help remembering this concerned his future life partner.

Normally believing to a fault, Midorima found himself pondering. What if his cousin indeed had a son. Midorima hadn’t been one to care much for romantic relationships, and thankfully there really wasn’t anyone he’d been eyeing, much less dating. Certainly not the flighty chatty things that came to watch Miyaji senpai and Takao during practice; not many of the girls in class really stood out to him either.

It wasn’t until they reached a red light and Takao turned back to him that it all clicked.

Maybe he did have someone in mind after all.

The round of janken was dealt with in silent haste, Takao letting out a long suffering, but well expecting sigh as he climbed back onto the bicycle. Midorima considered the possibility he'd just stumbled across. Granted he was oftentimes stubborn to a fault, but he did realize some people put up with him more than others did. Takao was one such person, if not the one who'd been most able to tolerate his whims and eccentrics.

It'd have been nice if he could've taken his time to find someone like Takao, the shooter silently thought to himself. So faintly though, that he himself was perhaps largely unaware that the idea had even occurred to him.

With a slight jostle of the cart, that thought was gone.

The news came much later when Midorima stepped out of the shower, homework completed, when he was just about to retire for the night. His cousin's wife had gone for the checkup, and was currently in the hospital owned by their family. Clutching his phone like a lifeline, he couldn't help feeling some resemblance between his current state, and how his sister had been when she'd gotten her first boyfriend; something he'd shown blatant disapproval of. Yet there he was, waiting silently for a text message, or any sort of reassuring indication that his future wasn't in peril, and he could finally put down the constant worry that had been tormenting him for the past 17 years.

Several hours passed in much that manner. Midorima lay on his bed, thoughts churning in ungodly speed and ferocity, his nerves fraying from the tension of silence, the boy torn between anxiety and exhaustion.

The sudden text message made him jump, groping around for his phone in the dark. He half glared at it, slipping his glasses onto his face with shaking hands till he saw the name; one Takao Kazunari. While he remained unsure if he was annoyed or relieved, the sudden deflation did make the shooter suddenly realize just how exhausted he really was.

His tension suddenly unwinding, Midorima had just enough time to read his partner's message right before drifting under, a relaxed and peaceful smile on his face.

_[Don't stay up tossing and turning Shin chan, you're gonna get even more creases between your brows. It'll be alright in the end, I promise.]_

It wasn't.

The next morning saw Midorima trudging onto school grounds with the sort of look worn by most in the height of exam period. With the sluggish snail’s pace he was going at, many wondered how he'd even made the bell. The answer to that question came bounding up to Midorima right after he'd parked their cart and bicycle.

"Maa, it's not so bad, marriage is just a formality isn't it?" The smaller boy attempted to cheer his partner, but to the shooter it only seemed that for every ounce of his own misery, Takao was feeling all that much more on top of the world.

"Is it just me or are you being just a little _too_ happy today?" He grouched, changing into his indoor shoes and trekking up the stairs with Takao at his heels.

"It’s just you, Shin chan. Well, no use moping right? Might as well see how things go first~" For once, the team ace noted grumpily, it didn't seem to occur to Takao that he wasn't much in the mood for small talk. Not that he ever was one to make small talk, but on days like this, even just passively listening seemed too big a chore.

He gave a final huff before they moved to their respective seats in the classroom. "I just can't believe even in the Heisei era, I'm bound to this tradition from more than a century ago."

His mood didn't improve significantly over the course of the day, prompting the swift depletion of all three of his selfish requests during basketball practice. Pineapple threats were issued like promotion flyers, but Takao suspected, had their seniors known, he'd probably earn himself more sympathetic pats on the back than anything else. The practice session turned out being much more of a drag than Midorima recalled schooldays normally being, and he even, shock horror, hit a couple of rims here and there.

While waiting for Takao to finish packing up though, the shooter was caught by surprise when, contrary to their habits, the shorter boy rushed through freshening up, and got up to leave on his own. Seeing the look of confusion on his partner’s face, Takao merely smiled. "Ah gomen Shin chan, you're gonna have to go home on your own today, I have a little something to tend to."

Without further explanation, the boy left the gym, leaving a perplexed Midorima sitting numbly on the benches in his wake.

Miyaji strolled into the locker room from the gym, landing an elbow on top of Midorima’s head as they both watched the point guard leaving. Elbow still parked on Midorima’s head, Miyaji raised an eyebrow.

"You look like your boyfriend just ditched you for some chick."

That unintentional bullseye was the final straw on Midorima’s day, and with a huff he stood to leave the locker room, Miyaji shouting more lethargic threats after him to buck up by the morrow, or sample a taste of death.

On his way home, Midorima silently questioned his luck; Cancers were ranked 4th for the day, and he'd prepared his lucky item per normal. Why then was nothing going his way?

His disappointment and confusion only grew when he reached home, his mother calling for him to meet her in the drawing room by the main house. "You'll be meeting your fiance today." Curiously, the words from his aunt seemed to not have much of a visible impact on the boy, enough for his mother to wave a hand in front of his face.

"My what?"

"Honestly, can you believe this child," his mother sighed, refilling her sister-in-law's teacup. "You'll be meeting the boy you're going to marry tonight, he'll be having dinner with us."

Shintarou swallowed again, excusing himself from the table and numbly shuffling back to his room, his mother and aunt exchanging disapproving comments on his behavior.

His usual routine and adherence to habits saved him from neglecting his homework, but the impending doom weighed heavily on his shoulders. What was this person even like, he had no clue, or way of knowing. Not to mention this affair had been single-handedly supervised by his aunt, whom he _did_ trust, but not quite with something that was essentially a blind date, sure to end in matrimony. Optimistically speaking, no matter what sort of ‘adversary’ was to come, Midorima was sure he’d be able to handle it somehow. But what if the other person didn’t like _him_? With considerable past experience to go on, he knew there was nothing much he could do about that.

It was with these thoughts that he paced around his room an hour later, decently groomed but antsy to no end, awaiting the doorbell to toll to his doom. Toes tapping incessantly, he kept glancing at the clock, silently judging his unknown fiance as the minutes drew nearer to their standard dinner time.

Instead of the doorbell, it was his phone that buzzed on the desk. As much as he wanted to ignore the call, he remembered the message he’d gotten from Takao the previous night. Somehow, oddly, it had proven incredibly calming. That thought in mind, he forced himself to pick up the call.

“Yo, Shin chan.”

The grip on his nerves loosened ever so slightly when he heard his partner’s voice. “Takao?” Somehow, he could even picture the cheeky grin his point guard was sure to have been wearing. Though, why at this moment he found Takao’s voice comforting, he didn’t have the slightest clue.

“Hehe. Can I come over right now?” Takao chuckled at the resulting grimace, glancing at his watch. The silence from their team ace felt like a string tied to a chunk of lead, as if there was something incredibly important waiting for him at the end of it.

“Actually, Takao, now really isn’t a good time.” He confessed, drawing in a deep breath to begin explaining. Contrary to his usual patience, however, Takao cut him off.

“Uhm, that’s a bit of a problem. I’m actually already outside.”

Phone grasped in hand, Midorima paused, before he took off and ran towards the front door. His thudding footsteps on the wooden floor earned him a scolding from his mother, who was preparing tea snacks in the kitchen. Regardless, he rushed out of the house to the main door, pulling it open to a wide-eyed Takao, still holding the phone to his ear and blinking up at his partner.

“Well. That was quick.”

“... What’re you...” It took awhile for Midorima to notice his aunt’s car behind the shorter boy, the lady herself soon stepping out of it. His gaze passed between his aunt and the smaller boy staring up at him innocently. It didn’t take relatives to know the bewilderment on his face was demanding an explanation.

His aunt took one look at her nephew, a thin frown on her perfectly painted lips. “Shintarou, don’t stare at him like that, it’s incredibly rude.”

Immediately heeding the warning, he turned instead to stare sheepishly at the stone pavement. “But, but he’s...”

At this, the lady laid a hand gently on the side of her face as she chuckled proudly into it. “Yes, quite a looker isn’t he, such a dear too. Your mother and I picked him ourselves, you know? Shintarou, meet Takao Kazunari, he is to be your bride.”

There was something about Takao's peace sign that made Midorima want to strangle him in cold blood.

**Author's Note:**

> Still don't know how to tag. Fluff. Title gives it away. Oneshot, probably. My one-liners aren't one-liners.


End file.
